Union membership as a percentage of all employees has been decreasing since August 1986 according to survey results released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The surveyTrade Union Members, Australia, conducted in August last year, shows that 31 per cent of Australia's 7,062,100 employees aged 15 years and over were trade union members.

Over the past 10 years the proportion of employees in unions fell by a third - from 46 per cent in 1986 to 31 per cent in 1996.

The decline partly reflects the changing full-time/part-time working patterns of Australia's employed labour force. In August 1996, 35 per cent of full-time employees were trade union members compared with 22 per cent membership for part-time employees.

Other results from the survey showed that:

34 per cent of male employees and 28 per cent of female employees were trade union members;

55 per cent of public sector and 24 per cent of private sector employees were members of a trade union;

Permanent employees were more likely to be members of a trade union than casual employees (37% compared with 13%); and

97 per cent of full-time employees and 69 per cent of part-time employees received one or more standard employment benefits (e.g. sick leave, holiday leave, long-service leave and superannuation).